Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies on Brand Performance: A Study on Three Private Institutions in Ghana

Transcription

1 Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies on Brand Performance: A Study on Three Private Institutions in Ghana Introduction EUNICE AKORFA ADIKO EUNICE AKORFA ADIKO holds an MPhil in Communications Studies from the University of Education, Winneba and an MBA in Marketing from Wisconsin International University College, Accra. She is currently the program Coordinator in the Department of Mass Communication & Journalism at Blue Crest College, Accra, Ghana. ABSTRACT Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is a strategic communication process that uses multiple marketing communications tools to promote awareness of a company's product or service, informing consumers about features and benefits, while moving targeted customers to make a purchase decision or to utilize a service. This research analyzes the use of IMC strategies and its effect on brand performance on three private institutions in Ghana. Based on survey questionnaires that analyzed the impact of IMC on three private institutions in Ghana - Valley View University, Sikkim Manipal University and Blue Crest College - the research revealed that all three institutions employ marketing communication but not integrated marketing communication as some of the tools were missing. It further revealed that brand performance is not solely based on IMC strategy alone but extends to quality of service and customer satisfaction. Private Universities, however measured, is on the increase in Ghana since the start of this decade, many of which are of foreign origin. These

2 Universities are owned by different organizations and they are affiliated with the public Universities. Currently, there is one private University and over thirty University colleges affiliated to various public Universities in Ghana. Since these institutions are business oriented and desiring to obtain leadership in the market, it is prudent to employ an intensive marketing communication strategy. This study attempts to bring to the fore evidence on how IMC is used by some private Universities in Ghana to achieve brand effect and become competitive in the educational market. To succeed among all clutter and become the number one choice when it comes to University education, there is the need for the institutions to embrace marketing communication tools to deliver their message to the public. The tools - advertisement, personal sales, public relations, and sales promotion - all of these must be evaluated periodically to determine their effect on the market and assessed how the brand is performing against competitive institutions. As stated by Owusu-Bannah (2010), organizations that are not prepared to look to the needs of their customers first, have found it increasingly difficult to survive in today's competitive business climate. One way to look at these needs is to communicate effectively with the customers. Kotler (2006), confirms this by stating that: 'the marketing strategy of any firm can greatly be enhanced with a marketing communication program that help the company to reach its target through a variety of communication tools" (pg. 10). Marketing communication is a concept which uses advertising, personal sales, direct marketing, public relations, or sales promotion to create awareness of a brand to achieve brand effect. Schultz and Schultz (2004) defined IMC as "a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communication programs over time with consumers, prospects and other targeted, relevant external and internal audiences" (p. 20). It is a strategic communication process that uses multiple marketing communications tools to promote awareness of a company's product or service, informing consumers about features and benefits, while moving targeted customers to make a purchase decision or to utilize a service

3 ( Marketer's Toolkit, 2006). IMC basic function is to remind customers periodically about the product or the service in order to register the awareness of the product in the mind of users. IMC is therefore a holistic approach to marketing communication strategy involving the specific mix of communications tools which a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives (Kortler, 2006). IMC ensures that all communication tools are carefully linked together. The objective of IMC is to complement and reinforce the market impact of each of the tools and to employ the data generated by these efforts in product development and customer service. Shimp (2000), in his analysis of IMC, summarized IMC purposes as follows: IMC aims to affect behaviour Starts with customers or prospects Use any and all forms of contacts Achieve synergy Build relationships. Smith and Taylor (2000) came out with the following merits of implementing IMC: IMC create competitive advantage, Boost sales and profit Save time and money Unified message has more impact than fragmented message Retaining loyal customers and attracting competitor's customers To strengthen the bond between customers and the brain. There is increasing awareness that successful companies need not focus their marketing strategy only on the traditional forms of advertising but to employ the use of IMC tools. The findings will help managers of institutions in planning, implementing and measuring their brand performance in special relations to customers' perception, awareness and preference for a brand

4 Integrated Marketing Communication Tools To implement IMC, it is essential for the organization to communicate effectively with the clients. This can be done by effectively integrating various communication tools. Hence IMC tools can be define as the integration of various marketing tools such as advertising, online marketing, public relation activities, direct marketing, sales campaigns to promote brands so that similar message reaches a wider audience (Yannopoulos,2007). Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy IMC strategy is all about using multiple modes of communications to achieve the desired message to the targeted consumers. Mehline (2007), conducted a research on Harah's Entertainment Inc, in which he examined the impact of IMC strategy on the company's performance using the 6M's model. The 6M's models are; Media - What communication vehicles should you use to get the message across? Market - To who is your communication addressed? Mission - What is your objective of communication? Message - What specific points must be communicated? Money - How much will be budgeted for the effort? Measurement - How will you assess the impact of your communication? ( Marketer's Toolkit, 2006 and Lal et al., 1999) Media In order to determine which communication vehicles to use, marketers need to understand not only the different types of vehicles - their advantages/disadvantages, but the characteristics of each of the communication vehicles. All communication vehicles are interactive, some more so than others. Often the determinant on how interactive the communication is whether it is a one-way or two-way communication vehicle

5 Communication Types One-way communication creates awareness and gives information about the product and service features and benefits, but allows little interaction. Consumers can choose to pay attention to the message or ignore it ( Marketer's Toolkit, 2006). Examples of one-way communications are television, newspapers, radio, and magazines. Market Market answers the question 'To whom is your communication addressed?' that is to identify and segment your target audience into smaller units to able to communicate to them. To be able to segment the market, you need to first of all understand the problems that you want to solve select your customer, analyses the customer to know their level of education, values, culture and any other things that will influence their purchase decision. Once you have a good idea of this, selecting the appropriate media of communication becomes easy. Mission No business is created in a vacuum. It comes with missions, visions and targets. These serve as guiding factors in constructing the message, taking into consideration language, visuals and any other component that can aid comprehension. That again, influences the choice of medium of transmitting the message to the target audience. Message A message is a discrete unit of communication intended for the consumption by the target consumer. This message may be delivered by various mediums or communication tools such as, advertising, internet, newspapers, personal selling and more. The information given to customers is based on what the customer wants or needs to know. For example a customer wanting to come to school will like to know the programs offered in that institution, fees, hostel and any other information that will be of interest to the potential student. Money Within IMC, strategy managers must understand how to best utilize

6 marketing resources amongst all marketing communication vehicles and to ensure that they are working in a consistent manner ( Marketer's Toolkit, 2006). When deciding the marketing communications budget areas to consider are size of the target audience to be reached; nature of message; receptivity of audience; and amount of fund allotted for communication. By understanding the market, mission, message, and appropriate media of the IMC, money can be allocated more efficiently (Mehling, 2007). Measurement One must build a mechanism for learning about the effects which the efforts had. Critical analysis of input will lead to decisions on future spending levels, allocation of the budget across media & specific communication. Clearly stating the objectives is an important first step. If objectives are defined, then results can be measured to see if the goals are met (Mehling, 2007). Schultz et al, (1993) in their work, came out with another strategy termed, 'The coordinated marketing communication campaign' approach which focuses on unifying a firm's communication efforts across the spectrum of marketing communication disciplines to target multiple audiences. The 'voice approach' on the other hand, unifies the various communication and promotional tools to reflect a single campaign. While 'integrated communication' includes the promotion of brand image and audience behaviour simultaneously, by incorporating tools such as brand adverting, sales promotion, public relations and direct selling. However, Duncan (2002), purport that to accept that communication is the foundation of all human relationship, then it must also be accepted that only strategically oriented integrated brand communications can help nosiness to reach a sustainable competitive position. IMC strategy and brand performance Kotler (2006), defined brand to be a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or a group of sellers to differentiate them from its competitors

7 Brand equity allows a brand to earn greater sales volume and higher margins than it could without the name, providing the company with a competitive advantage (Owusu- Banah, 2010). According to Chiranig et al. (2012), the performance of a brand points out how successful a brand is in the market and aims to evaluate the strategic successes of a brand. Edmiston (2009), in his research on some US Public Institutions of Higher Education in which he analyzed the strategic process of IMC and its current application in some selected institutions, established that there is a correlation between IMC and brand performance. He further cited Madhavaram et al (2005) who noted that effective marketing communication enables the formation of brand awareness and a positive brand image. These then form the brand knowledge structures, which, in turn, trigger the differentiated responses that constitute brand equity. These researchers effectively argue that the IMC strategy is essential to the organization's strategic brand development and that it strengthens the interface between the firm's brands. Edmiston's research revealed that several variables impact IMC in US public IHEs to include leadership and formal communication mechanisms. In addition, IMC was shown to contribute to heightened institutional brand recognition in the US. Porcu (2011), also conducted a study on how IMC works and came up with the finding that the identification of IMC drives may allow mangers achieve better administration of resources through the encouragement of practices related to decision-making models organizational structure and cross-departmental dynamics. On IMC and brand performance, Lucia posit that there is a correlation between the implementation of IMC process and business performance. He cited Kichen, Brinell, Li and Spickett-Jones who all showed in their work that IMC is not just a communication process but a process related to brand management. A study conducted by Gagandep et al (2011), analyzed the effects of IMC on consumer decision process. It was a survey conducted on 100 customers in Navi Mumbai. Their findings were that there is a significant difference in the impact of IMC on different customer segment. In other words, different age groups do not have common perception towards different mediums of communication as such; managers should not over emphasize on and rely on one media as a strategy in their efforts to attract customers. They concluded that the

8 success and survival of companies depends on the managers' ability to understand customers need and to find effective ways to communicate to them. Madhavaram et al (2005), cited in Edmiston (2008), noted that effective marketing communication 'enables the formation of brand awareness and a positive brand image. This then forms the brand knowledge structures, which, in turn, triggers the differentiated responses that constitute brand equity' (p. 70). These researchers effectively argue that the IMC strategy is essential to the organization's strategic brand development and that it 'strengthens the interface between the firm's brand identity strategy and its customer-based brand equity, that is, brand awareness and brand image' (p. 70). Specifically, they propose 'a conceptual model of brand equity in which the brand identity guides IMC in an effort to develop and maintain customer-based brand equity'. Conceptual Framework The above discussion shows that a combination of a variety of marketing communication tools advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations and direct marketing strategically will have an impact on consumer's perception, knowledge, behaviour and preference for a brand. The conceptual is thus based on the relationship between marketing communication tools and brand outcomes. A successful IMC program however, requires a firm finds a combination of promotional tools and techniques, define their role and the extent to which they can be used. That is to say that IMC will have an effect on brand performance of the firm. Figure 1 explains the relationship IMC functions and its impact on brand performance. For instance, the use of advertising leads to increased customer awareness which impacts on the profitability of the company

9 IMC FUNCTIONS BRAND PERFORMANCE ADVERTISING INCREASED CUSTOMER AWARENESS SALES PROMOTION INCREASED CUSTOMER RECEPTION PERSONAL SELLING INCREASED BRAND REFERENCE PUBLIC RELATIONS BUILDS CORPORATE IMAGE DIRECT MARKETING INCREASED CUSTOMER RETENTION Fig. 1 Data Collection The research adopted the case study approach. Using quantitative research method of data collection, three private tertiary institutions in Accra, Ghana was employed. The research explored the emotional feelings of students pursuing university degree and what influenced their decisions to select the schools where they are. The main instrument of data collection was the survey questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaires consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions were completed by 150 students from three institutions. The open-ended questions allowed respondents to express their opinion on the marketing communication tools that influenced their decision to select the institutions of their choice. In

10 addition to the questionnaires, interviews was also conducted on three marketing managers one each from the three Universities. These managers are in charge of marketing and publicity for their institution hence the decision to interview them to find out factors that influence their choice of the medium of communication to their target audience Data Analysis and Findings Questionnaires were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010 to analyze respondent date in percentages and also produce diagrams on the analysis. The interview data was analyzed based on notes taken during the oral interview with the marketing managers. Opinions of interviewees were analyzed to bring out factors influencing their choice of communication tool and its impact on the brand performance. Brand Awareness The survey findings provide valuable insight into the extent to which student are aware of their institutions. Information was sort from them to find out the medium by which they got to know of their school then also their perception about the popularity of their school in Ghana. On brand awareness, Fig 2.1 explained the impact of IMC tools on perception of students from Blue Crest College. Figure 2.1: Bluecrest Brand Awareness BRAND AWARENESS RADIO 0% BROCHURE 0% INTERNET TV 0% NEWSPAPER BILLBOARD 30% REFERRAL 40% Fig

11 Examine the figure, about 40% of the students of BlueCrest got to know about their institution through referrals, 30% from billboard, from internet, and from newspaper. There was no response for Radio and television. An indication that, either the institution does not communicate using radio and television or the respondents by their locations cannot access it. However, the marketing manager in an interview attested the school has been running advert on both radio and television which perhaps the students are not conversant with. He added that due to cost involved, radio advert is done in the regional capitals, whiles billboards are concentrated in and around Accra (the nation's capital). Again on brand awareness, Fig 2.2 illustrates responses from SMU. Based on the figure, 60% of respondent found themselves at the school by referrals, each for both internet and billboard and 0% for radio, newspaper, television and brochure. Fig. 2.2 SMU BRAND AWARENESS RADIO 0% BROCHURE 0% INTERNET TV 0% NEWSPAPER 0% BILLBOARD REFERRAL 60% Still on brand awareness, Valley View's illustrations as revealed on Fig. 2.3 shows that, 50% of students got the awareness through the newspaper, 37% through referrals, 13% from the internet. Again radio, television and brochures scored zero. Billboards also scored 0% as against SMU and BlueCrest

12 Fig.2.3 VALLEY VIEW BRAND AWARENESS TV REFERRAL RADIO BILLBOARD NEWSPAPER BROCHURE 37% 50% Integration of IMC Tools To find out how communications tool are integrated in the institutions, students were asked to name the visible marketing communication tool used in their institution. Fig 3.1 analyzed responses for BlueCrest. According to the illustrations, 60% of respondents state adverts as the institution's promotional tool, direct marketing, personal selling, and for sales promotion. They have no idea of public relations outfit in their institution. The marketing manager however confirmed that there is marketing department which double as public relations, and that they also engaged in sponsorships which is also a tool for communication. Fig. 3.1 DIRECT MARKETING PERSONAL SELLING PUBLIC RELATION 0% BLUECREST IMC TOOLS SALES PROMOTION ADVERT 60% For SMU, 37% of respondents see advert as a tool of marketing communications visible in the institution, 27% for sales promotions, and

13 18% from direct marketing, 9% personal selling, and 9 % public relations. Based on the analysis, all the IMC tools as stated in Owusu- Bannah, (2010), were visible in SMU. Valley View on the hand (Fig.3.3), presents all the IMC tools, 30% for adverts, for Public relations, for personal selling, for direct marketing and for sales promotion. Based on the illustrations there is a fair representations on the use of marketing communications tools in Valley View. ADVERT DIRECT MARKETING PERSONAL SELLING Fig. 3.2 SMU IMC TOOLS 27% 18% PUBLIC RELATIONS SALES PROMOTION 37% 9% 9% DIRECT MARKETING Fig. 3.3 IMC TOOLS VALLEY VIEW SALES PROMOTION ADVERT 30% PERSONAL SELLING PUBLIC RELATION IMC Tools Assessments To find out the impact of IMC's performance in the institution, respondents were asked to comment on the credibility, originality, and how influential, and informative the communications tool used and

14 whether they chose their school based on that tool. Fig. 4.1 illustrates responses from BlueCrest. According to the figure, 30 % attest to the credibility of the communication tool, confirm the originality of the communication, agreed the communication is credible, claimed communication was informative and chose the school based on the communication tool. Fig. 4.1 BLUECREST IMC ASSESSMENT CREDIBILITY INFORMATIONAL ORIGINALITY CHOICE INFLUENTIAL 30% Again on IMC assessment, Fig 4.2 illustrates responses from SMU. The figure reveals that, 46% of respondents selected their school based on the communication tool used, 27% attest the message sent via the tool was influential, 9% credible, 9% original and 9% informative. Fig 4.2 SMU IMC ASSESSMENT CREDIBILITY 9% ORIGINALITY 9% CHOICE 46% INFLUENTIAL 27% INFORMATIVE 9%

15 Responses from Valley View as illustrated on Fig 4.3 shows that,40% of respondent assess the communication tool as informative, 30% claimed they are in that institution as a result of the medium, credibility, originality and influential took each. Indicating that the marketing communications tool adopted by the school works for them. Fig. 4.3 VALLEY VIEW IMC ASSESSMENT CHOICE 30% CREDIBILITY ORIGINALITY INFLUENTIAL INFORMATIVE 40% Brand Performance According to Schultz and Schultz (2004), brand-building efforts typically result in four major areas of return or benefit to the organization: increased number of customers supporting the brand; increased usage by existing customers; increased customer income flows that stem from increased loyalty; and the ability of the organization to extend the brand into new areas that result in increased new customers, new sales or both. To measure the performance of each institution in terms of enrollment, popularity and niche in a particular brand, respondents were asked to comment on how well-known their institutions is, does it have some unique features in terms of program contents; is it their preferred choice or they regretted finding themselves there; can they regard their institution as the best in Ghana among private universities; and again, can they without obstruction recommend their institution to others? The analysis of the response for BlueCrest can be seen on Fig 5.1. Based on the analysis, 50% of respondents indicate the

16 institution has a unique feature which they claimed is IT (information Technology), claimed is a preferred choice for IT education in Ghana, are ready to recommend it to others who wish to have similar degree, also confirms their school is well known in Ghana and the rest can boast of their school as the best in Ghana. Fig. 5.1 BLUECREST BRAND PERFORMANCE BEST IN GHANA RECOMMENDED WELL KNOWN PREFERRED CHOICE UNIQUE FEATURE 50% INFORMATIVE 40% Analyzing SMU on brand performance, 30% agreed their school is the preferred choice, said their school is well known and another believed it is the best private university in Ghana, another is ready to recommend it to others, while claimed it has a unique feature which is direct admission to level 200 instead of 100 as common with other universities. Fig. 5.2 SMU BRAND PERFORMANCE 30% WELL KNOWN UNIQUE FEATURE BEST IN GHANA PREFERRED CHOICE RECOMMENDED

17 Considering valley View on brand performance, 40% claimed, their institution has a unique feature which is highlighted as discipline and health related programs, 30% are of the view that their school is well known, will recommend it to others, another claimed it is the best in Ghana, while the rest thought it is a preferred choice for morality plus a degree. Fig 5.3 VALLEY VIEW BRAND PERFORMANCE WELL KNOWN UNIQUE FEATURE BEST IN GHANA PREFERRED CHOICE RECOMMENDED 30% 40% Conclusion Schultz and Schultz (2004) describe IMC as a strategic business process to drive brand communication programs, not simply product promotion programs. Thus, for IMC to be most effective it needs to be implemented not at a tactical level but rather at a strategic level in support of the institutional brand. Although an element of interdependence was recognized between the different communication tools (such as advertising, sales promotions, direct marketing, personal selling and public relations), the idea of integration was not considered a plausible approach to developing more effective campaigns at that time. As most of the institutions understudied employ only some of the communication tools whiles others appears subtly or missing entirely. All three institutions studied communicate through adverts more than the other tools, even with the advert, focus is on some (billboards, newspaper, internet) than others (radio, television).sales promotion and direct selling had little integration, while public relation

18 is shelved although very important for organization's identity building. Branding describes the values generated in the minds of people as consequence of the sum total of marketing communications efforts. Assessing the impact on the IMC tools on the brand performance, it is obvious that, although, IMC contributes to elevating the brand of an institution, other factors such as program content, discipline and service environment also contribute to brand performance. IMC strategy will be a failure if people get the awareness through the integration; get enrolled to the program only to drop out before their graduation due to poor quality of performance. Hence, it is equally good for directors of institutions to pay attention to their product quality, service environment, customer satisfaction and customer delight which all will lead a user (in this case students) to employ word of- mouth advertising which is important for every business, as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones and of less or at most times no cost

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